eaf Posted January 13, 2019 Report Posted January 13, 2019 It was a hard choice between BM and CB today, given the expectations of a high crowd at BM, yet reportedly decent snow there yesterday, more open terrain at CB, and yet shut down Sullivan express yesterday afternoon. In the end I figured that I'm getting sick of skiing the same trails over and over again, took the gamble and went to CB... The commute was dreadful. There was more salt on the road than snow on the shoulders. We passed at least 5 trucks on I-78 that were dumping even more salt, all despite pretty optimistic forecast for north NJ and morning in general. In contrast, no such madness was observed on the other side of Delaware river. Our favorite CBK Lodge was closed today, so we had to drive and park near the main one. That took some time, but we still got to the lifts right when they opened them to the mere mortals. The first impression of the mountain was that there had been a lot more trails open than on BM. Two blacks top-to-bottom, King Tut on the right, Nile Mile on the left, Cleopatra, Honeymoon, all the major arteries had snow on it. Moreover, if they wanted, they could open even more because it looked like there was enough ungroomed snow on Bactrian, Pharaon and Raceway, but they chose to use the daytime to make more snow instead. Folks must've got scared by the chance of snowfall or perhaps the mountain not being 100% open yet. It wasn't crowded, no usual crazy wait at Stevenson express due to hotel guests, no snake line at Sullivan, in fact, in 75% of runs we didn't even bother using single lanes. The first two hours were spent on the big top-to-bottom trails like Rocket, Cleopatra, Honeymoon, Nile Mile. With not too many people initially and fresh snow on top of a hardpack, going fast was easy and we've had a blast. After a small break crowds picked up, and the main trail conditions deteriorated, some scraped ice in some sports, some medium deep piles on others, so we retreated to the shorter trails in middle of the mountain, i.e. Rhododendron Glen, Moore's Ramble, Turkey Trot. Snow there was still great, and we just alternated between them and the Stevenson and Glen lifts until we got tired and left at about 2pm. Around noon lines at Stevenson got almost non-existent, but not too many trails were available from it, and Nile Mile already deteriorated enough so we still used the express only to get to the center of the mountain. I'd say that perhaps for a few trails like Cliffhanger where they didn't even start blowing, they have nice chances of being mostly open next weekend. The weather is gonna be funny then though. 2 Quote
eaf Posted January 13, 2019 Author Report Posted January 13, 2019 (edited) Edited January 13, 2019 by eaf 3 1 Quote
Shadows Posted January 13, 2019 Report Posted January 13, 2019 Why would salt make the drive worse? 1 Quote
eaf Posted January 13, 2019 Author Report Posted January 13, 2019 Just now, Shadows said: Why would salt make the drive worse? Hate the idea of rock salt bombarding and corroding the undercarriage plus just the fact of passing those trucks blasting it to my side. Quote
JFskiDan Posted January 13, 2019 Report Posted January 13, 2019 This is pretty funny. Must have been a small survey.......at Camelback. 1 3 1 Quote
eaf Posted January 13, 2019 Author Report Posted January 13, 2019 Yeah, saw it on the ground floor near ski check in the hotel building. First I'm thinking: OK, everybody has to be first in something in PA, and then WOW, it's not even in PA, it's in the USA! 1 Quote
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted January 13, 2019 Report Posted January 13, 2019 Do you boot up in the lodge?? Quote
RootDKJ Posted January 14, 2019 Report Posted January 14, 2019 Wow, thanks for posting and the reminder why I don’t love skiing there. 1 1 Quote
saltyant Posted January 14, 2019 Report Posted January 14, 2019 Camelback looks legit. I'll be sure to hit it up this year once they open Cliffhanger and the new trail. Quote
eaf Posted January 14, 2019 Author Report Posted January 14, 2019 34 minutes ago, RootDKJ said: Wow, thanks for posting and the reminder why I don’t love skiing there. Why? Quote
eaf Posted January 14, 2019 Author Report Posted January 14, 2019 1 hour ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said: Do you boot up in the lodge?? Eat there too. Cozzzyyyy. Btw, they've finished remodeling upper CB lodge... I haven't been there since then yet, but have always been fond of grabbing my backpack, riding the lift up and eating on top of the mountain. Quote
eaf Posted January 14, 2019 Author Report Posted January 14, 2019 21 minutes ago, saltyant said: Camelback looks legit. I'll be sure to hit it up this year once they open Cliffhanger and the new trail. So sad you've abandoned it. That Honeymoon marathon of yours was historic. Every time I passed it today, couldn't help but remember how bravely you fought that sticky mess. 1 1 Quote
saltyant Posted January 14, 2019 Report Posted January 14, 2019 (edited) 42 minutes ago, eaf said: So sad you've abandoned it. That Honeymoon marathon of yours was historic. Every time I passed it today, couldn't help but remember how bravely you fought that sticky mess. I'd probably alternate seasons between Blue and Camelback if not for PASR. Camelback has good runs and an easy drive, but distinctively lacks parking lot socials with a karaoke machine and, of course, Sausage Sunday. Plus at Blue I never know if I'll get to ride the lift with a celebrity, like Nastar Glenn. Edited January 14, 2019 by saltyant 4 1 Quote
Schif Posted January 14, 2019 Report Posted January 14, 2019 I used to love going up to that top lodge with my cousins and hanging out in the middle of our epic all day sessions as teenagers. the top loft area was always deserted so you had the whole thing to yourself and it was pretty cool. I think they used to call it Cameltop if I'm not mistaken. Quote
theprogram4 Posted January 14, 2019 Report Posted January 14, 2019 Just now, Schif said: I used to love going up to that top lodge with my cousins and hanging out in the middle of our epic all day sessions as teenagers. the top loft area was always deserted so you had the whole thing to yourself and it was pretty cool. I think they used to call it Cameltop if I'm not mistaken. nice same here, espceially that top loft Quote
paxonpro Posted January 14, 2019 Report Posted January 14, 2019 They also used to have a nice bar/restaurant on the bottom floor of the top lodge. Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted January 17, 2019 Report Posted January 17, 2019 Is that snowmaking on an open trail in PA? What? 1 Quote
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